Barbara

German actress Nina Hoss (A Woman in Berlin) captivates in the story of a doctor, circa 1980, whose recent application for a visa to leave East Germany for the West – a political no-no in that communist country — has caused her demotion and relocation to a provincial town. Dr. Barbara Wolff (Hoss) suspects that everything she says or does is being spied on by the police, even her budding relationship with a friendly doctor (Ronald Zehrfeld) at the pediatric hospital where they both work. Director Christian Petzold, who wrote the screenplay with Harun Farocki, keeps typical spy action elements to a minimum, relying on Hoss and her supporting players to sketch in the daily frustrations of living in a totalitarian society. That strategy pays off. (105 min.)
ByKelly Vance